Edinburgh was very congested with ongoing bridge and road repairs and roads closed as part of operation Unicorn which will see the Queen being driven down to Edinburgh from Balmoral. Just a few shops closed, open toppers not running, lots of pee'd off cruise tourists whinging they couldn't get to the old town which wasn't really true, just their coach couldn't no problem walking a few yards!. I told one that we apologised that they were inconvenienced but we only get a Queen passing away once in 96 years. The buses other than First looked immaculate and there were pictures of the late Queen at all the bus stops which had electronic ad panels, thus the whole length of the main Princes St had them receding into the distance, their resolution may conflict with the camera setting but I trying to get lots of shots with the royal image and bus. All the drivers there were 100% friendly and welcoming. No hassles at all, the weather was as forecast but dry, the light cloud allowed film in any direction.

Glasgow, well lets say that there were lots of friendly drivers at the bus station, quite sunny and warm enough. The town centre was well Glasgow at its worst, certainly not for the feint hearted but there were open toppers there. I can see no mention of the MTT running day at Southport being cancelled so we;ll be there filming, the weather looks to be good.

For anyone who has viewed our blogs on Facebook you will get them on our web site www.pmpfilms.com together with our shop and lots of links such as our still photo sales and full lists of DVDs, downloads and archive holdings.

Well of course all minds in the UK, Commonwealth and further afield will be on the sad decline of our Queen, it really seems that bad news is expected. However today we had our polio fellowship meeting at Ellesmere Port, got there early as I had a routine eye check up, good news even better yet again, left eye not far off 20/20 unaided, right eye is less brilliant at distance but covers reading distance more so that I don't even need reading glasses. There had to be some advantage to being older. I've got a few follow up actions from the meeting but we have enough who want to visit the Jodrell Bank complex in October to make up a proper group with a guide.

We are intending to head up to Edinburgh and Glasgow risking light rain as the opportunities for longer runs gets less and faster in Scotland as days shorten there first. Really it is a fingers crossed trip. I hope to get truck film next week. I'm colourising the rest of the TTC archive, much better quality as it heads into the 1930s more. I've now made 'public' the first clip, as you will see the process struggles at times but at least it knew that Toronto trams were burgundy even if rendition can be shaky.

Some photos from Ashton yesterday and an early night ready for a very early start tomorrow morning, strange to think we shall be a lot closer to the Queen. Really know its been ages since we went to Aberdeen, a day flight return can be around £400 which is one reason it is hard to get there. The PMP sales are at a low ebb and the new HD downloads have so far got a very sad One download. Not enough there to pay for a trip to Crewe.

Sorry but very little time, had ages taken up first thing and then teatime trying to get Weebly/ Square paid as Nat West had blocked them. Finally managed to pay two years with 10% discount so no more worries about anyone pulling the plug on our site for a while. It was sunshine and showers, Stockport still difficult as buses stop all over the place and the autumnal sun can be a curse although the warmth was appreciated. Polio Fellowship meeting tomorrow.

I had my chest xray at Northwich cottage hospital this morning them back home and on with conversion of old videos and film. I''ve got around 25% of the TTC archive treated, the 1917 stuff really confuses the colourisation process but overall isn't bad and the colour not too far out with a few manual tweaks, the 1930s scenes it is better able to cope with. I'm trying to upload the first clip I've done to Youtube but it is taking forever to load.  I've now got the Fabvideo Enhancer which is similar to AVC labs, the one I couldn't access and gave up on, the new one downloaded at set up fine and is operational but rethinking on the first video to upgrade as at first try it was weeks to process. I've set the parameters a little more lightly and wait until the slow Youtube upload is finished and I've also got the Pixbeam colourisation chugging away. Everything slows down what should be a meteoric process with all the power the new computer has at its disposal.

Tomorrow the weather outlook is not too bad locally which works well as I've got Stockport and Ashton lined up with light cloud and a small chance of rain through to mid afternoon. Stockport is still using the temporary facility and Ashton gives a lot of little Gem shots. Some older Manchester to set the location.

Fingers crossed that the colourisation process makes something good from the TTC archives which they kindly let us use decades ago, arranged by my late friend and fellow enthusiast John F Bromley of Scarborough , Ontario. A font of all knowledge on the Toronto tram / street car scene. Hopefully it won't take so long to process as I picked a conversion to a standard HD format not the superb but huge 600gb file when I did the Liverpool archive. When ready it will go on to Youtube in several postings and also as a download on the shop. I'll then experiment with my early video and convert that so it is de-interlaced, 60 fps and HD, something that several of you have been asking.

The 'clean' up phase takes several hours but seems worth it with the old cine. Lets hop it lends something to the quality of Video8 and Hi8. I found that the super computer doesn't do downloads with a capture card which is what I told the people putting it together that it needed a storm card or similar. Anyway rather then mess about I have ordered an extra monitor screen and will use the old computer to download the 'composite' ie non digital formats from tapes. It handled that well and I can be doing it while I'm working on the big computer with tasks more suited to its huge processing power. I suppose I'm getting where I wanted to be, I know it goes over a lot of heads but worldwide there is a shedload of people all working along the same lines.

Tonight some more shots from Muckley Corner, tomorrow I have a chest xray and have Wednesday free, Polio Fellowship Thursday and sort of hoping we can nip up and do Edinburgh and Glasgow on Friday.

We decided to skip any travelling this weekend as were already tired from some long trips in the week. This gave me time to do some tidying up with the cine films I'd copied and needed to file. There are now quite a few actions required to give maximum security to their future safety with a nod to the nightmare of three lost extension drives lost back in June. The upload speeds for putting on the PMP shop are really awfully slow, hopefully the new supplier from later September will have them doubled something BT could have done or so says new supplier.

With a tiny bit of time while waiting I delved yet again into Mandy's family history and focussed on the elusive Harold Patterson her natural father. We have now found several newspaper reports some in Welsh, and he really was a bit of a chancer. We know his criminal record and details of crimes plus desertion from his shop when a youngster travelling the world as a sailor, his marriage and shot gun wedding and two children, Mandy's half siblings. Their story will be another tracking with difficulty session. Then in the war he deserted from the RAF for which he had volunteered in 1941. Obviously by 1943 he had had enough, a bit more theft and then under RAF custody. We even have a brief obituary and details of his cremation location and record. We can follow that up. We've ordered up his RAF service record.

Back to films, I'm now downloading onto digital files the scans of Tim Bubbs family collection. There is quite a lot to work through including several 3 hour VHS tapes. Last some shots from Muckley Corner last week

Here are recent DVD releases, Swindon and Bath will be ready tomorrow. Just the Muckley Corner truck ones left to edit.

plus some photos from Bath

Muckley Corner is more pleasant on an early autumn day than mid winter like my first two sessions there. DVDs and Youtube clips will follow shortly. Very busy, had a look further down the A5 but the last junction is messy with two roundabouts so Muckley stays the favourite. The A38 runs north from nearby and may well have a run up there for next truck film day especially where it crosses the M1. Very few DVD orders coming in this week. Photos from yesterday morning at Swindon.

A well timed trip to Swindon  to mark the end for at least two years of traffic through Fleming way which really means buses. Got there for the end of the morning rush hour services and banged on until I'd got an hour with sunshine and cloud. Then on to Bath where I met someone who recognised my voice! Anyway shots from yesterday at Chesterfield. Hoping to be filming lorries tomorrow, need to check weather for location!